Festival of Quilts 2014



'Fish at Sea' by Pam Stainer

Last week it was the 2014 Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham.  This is the biggest annual quilt show in the UK, and being based right next to Birmingham airport, it allows a lot of people to fly in from all over Europe. This year I decided to go for two days, as one day never seems enough to see the all the quilts and make the most of all the stalls.  Here are some of the lovely quilts I saw.


'Dreamtime' by Antonia Hering, The Netherlands

This was one of my favourite quilts from the Contemporary category.  The quilt depicts an aboriginal story of 3 sisters in the Blue Mountains in Australia, and features the 'dot painting' that you see in traditional aboriginal art.


'Dreamtime' by Antonia Hering, The Netherlands

From the close-up you may be able to see that every dot is appliqued on - 7500 in total.  The quilt was totally hand quilted, hand appliqued - totally handmade.  It has won prizes in quit shows all over the world.  I'm glad lots of people have got to see it - it is absolutely amazing.


'Hip Hip Hooray II' by Jacqueline Amies


I love repeat patterns.  This small contemporary quilt by Jacqueline Amies was made with cotton sateen and raw edge applique.  It was inspired by the shiny black hips seen in the countryside of Hampshire.  A simple idea, extremely well executed. I love it.

'Not the Darts of Death' by Sue Dawson

More repeats. This one was made up from silk scraps, with very fine black inserts for the outlines.  Some of the silk scraps were very dated, but completely brought up to date with this modern design.


'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina

I rarely work with these bright colours myself, but I am always attracted by their freshness.  In fact I realised when I got home that I liked this quilt so much I had taken two photographs of it! The coloured triangles were made out of a 'Jelly Roll Race' flimsy and arranged in a 'Big Bang'.


'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina

Again a simple design, but what really made this quilt was the quilting - yes, quilting REALLY does make the quilt.  The white space was divided up and different patterns were used to make different textures. Brilliant.


'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding

More clever ideas.  Hilary Gooding has decorated this Frieda Anderson fabric with bar codes, QR codes, and more subtly, with braille quilted into the quilt.


'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding



'The Good Life' by Philippa Naylor

This quilt by Philippa Naylor won first prize in the Traditional Quilts category.  Every inch of this quilt design was planned out with great thought and stitched with great care. It seems perfect in almost every way. 


'Flourish on the Vine' by Kathy Wylie, Canada

This quilt by Kathy Wylie also had an enormous amount of detail, technique and design.  It was beautiful.  I can only imagine that it missed out on a prize as it was entered in the Contemporary category.


'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia

Here is one for all you hexagon fanatics out there.  This quilt by Cinzia White, Australia, has 13,972 pieces in 363 blocks, which are QAYG (quilt as you go)


'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia

Some of the 2" hexagons have nearly 150 pieces in them!


'Omaggio a Gerda Bentsson' by Laura Armiraglio, Italy

Finally, here is a lovely quilt by Laura Armiraglio.  As well as the natural theme, the border was made out of hessian, and the quilting was really organic.

All good stuff.